Sakura, I Love You
by Risaku
Summary: Cracky. OCC. Sasuke comes home, he's finally killed Itachi. heh.. Now, he can finally pursue his one and only love: Sakura! Only, there's others that want her! Main: ItaSaku Onesided: SakuxSasu, Neji, Gaara, Sasori, Lee.
1. The Last Uchiha, or Not!

**A/N: X3 Another random story. Naruto does not belong to me.**

Chapter 1

It had finally happened-Uchiha Sasuke had finally caught and slain the notorious Uchiha Clan killer, Uchiha Itachi. He had been spotted outside the gates of Konoha, and once the news had spread, Naruto was the first to be there. At the gates, Sasuke appeared in a black sleeveless shirt, and black pants, with standard Anbu boots. His clothes were muddy, bloody, and torn in places they shouldn't have, and he was pretty fucked up. Naruto ran to Sasuke immediately, supporting him by throwing Sasuke's arm over his shoulder.

"Teme! You baka…what did you do?! When you get better, I'm going to fuck you up again!!" Naruto exclaimed, his raw emotions making his voice all scratchy. Silent tears slid down the younger, and now, only Uchiha's cheek. Alarmed, Naruto slapped Sasuke, and waited for his best brother to blow up at him.

However, the Uchiha's face was blank, and the tears only came faster. He turned his face down, and his bangs covered all view of his face.

"Naruto…I…I did it…" he rasped, not caring that he was choking on his tears. Naruto, though matured, was still a bit dense. This made him look at Sasuke with a confused puppy look, and Sasuke sighed.

"Dobe…still such an idiot…" he cracked a wry smirk, and looked up.

" I…I did it. I killed him. Ani..Itachi's dead.." he replied, the smirk vanishing, and his head went down. His knees started to shake, and he started to fall forward, unconscious. Naruto rushed to balance his friend, and sent out a chakra pulse, alerting Konoha nin that he needed help.

-

Naruto watched his best sister through the glass window of the ER, Sasuke sprawled on the table. Never, had he seen Sasuke look so weak. He remembered, when Sasuke told him about killing Itachi, that his eyes..they were void. Blank. EMPTY.

Even as children, even back when they were 15, his eyes weren't void. They held anger, hate, resentment. Never in his life, had he ever remembered Sasuke's eyes look so….lost, confused. One question kept swimming in his mind, round and round:

Just _what_ happened between the two surviving Uchiha?

-

In the ER, Sakura was studying all of the injuries on the Uchiha's body. She had been at home, dead asleep, but when she felt Naruto's chakra, it was erratic. She rushed, thinking something was wrong, but instead of finding something extremely bad happening, she saw a sight she never thought she'd see ever again…Sasuke. Though his size was very much larger than hers, she carried him bridal style, with her raw strength. No chakra involved-she'd need that for the actual work.

Anyway, on the table lay Sasuke, in all of his beaten and battered …glory. She studied him: 3 fractured ribs, 5 deep lacerations, burns all over his arms and legs ('Probably that damn katon jutsu..', she thought), 3 broken toes, 1 thumb broken, sprained wrist, and that was only the outside-ish stuff!

Sakura mended and fixed, her warming chakra making its mark in Sasuke's system. During the middle of the procedure, Sasuke was faintly conscious, trying to cling to the warmth. 'Don't…leave me..' he mumbled, falling unconscious yet again. Sakura paused when she heard this, and closed her eyes, a faint, sad small smile on her lips.

"Sasuke-kun..we never left you." She opened her eyes again, regaining her energy, and building her resolve, pumping her fist. "I won't let you die, Sasuke-kun. At least, not before I kick your ass to fucking Amegakure."

After a long 3 hours, (Sakura being the best med-nin in all 5 nations), Sasuke was moved into a regular room. Sakura collapsed into a chair, greedily taking the cup of offered sake from Tsunade.

"What are you going to do with him?" Sakura asked, voice showing traces of her weariness, her face giving away nothing. Tsunade, with her chin on her crossed hands, narrowed her eyes in thought.

"It is up to the elders to decide..those old fuckers don't listen to me. But I'll do what I ca"

"TSUNADE-BAA! TSUNADE-BAAAAAAAA!!!!! WHAT'S GONNA HAPPEN TO TEME?!" an annoyingly familiar voice chimed in.

WHOOCHAAAA!!!!

Yes, dear readers. That was the sound of Tsunade punting Naruto out of the tower window, and into Suna. XD!

"But I'll do what I can," Tsunade folded her hands on her desk calmly, in her previous position. She gave her tired daughter a smile, and shooed her away.

-

"AHHHHH!!! TSUNADAAAA-BAAAAAAAAAA! YOU'RE SO MEAN TO MEEEEEEEE!!" was heard throughout all of Suna and Konoha, the ground shaking at the impact.

-

It was dark, where he was…as if he weren't….existent anymore..

Nothing was there.

Just a big, black, blank space.

He looked around, and NOTHING was there…no one, was there.

"Am I dead?" he asked himself, welcoming death if it had finally come.

It was like his soul was far from his body, and he was looking down and seeing his body there, bleeding…dying. He didn't feel anything anymore..he felt blank, and empty.

-

"Aww hell!" Sakura swore. Trying to stay awake, Sakura took a walk after her meeting with Tsunade-Okaa-chan, and her mind wasn't with her body. She found herself in a clearing, 5 miles outside of Konoha. As she was about to step, she lost her footing.

"DAMN IT TO HELL!! JEEZUZ!!" she swore a bit loudly, not under her breath. How could she not have noticed the huge ass craters in the ground? She's supposed to be a fucking ANBU ranked nin! S-Class Criminal in other countrie's bingo books!! THE Haruno Sakura, Onyx Blossom of the Leaf! The fuck is wrong with her?? Wait….a big hole in the ground? Curious, Sakura followed the trail where the cracks seemed to start from. There, she saw more holes scattered everywhere, and among the upturned dirt and rocks, she saw…red?

'Oh crap!! Is that a person? I have to help them…' she thought, quickly approaching the red spot with the stealth she was famous for, gracefully dodging poking out rocks, sticks, big ass craters, and cracks.

As she got closer, the brownish red color and started to turn a brighter red. 'Blood..' she thought, quickening her pace. As she reached the end of the trail, she saw a person with long black hair, lying face down. She dropped to her knees, and used her glowing green chakra to check the person. She gathered information such as: this person was male, approximately 22 years old, extremely hurt, and on the verge of death.

"Jeezuz…" she muttered, gently turning over the person, getting to work on their injuries. She ripped her white med coat, and disinfected the visible wounds with some concoction that was in her necklace. The man had 4 broken ribs, a sprained and swollen ankle, burns on his legs, 5 katana stab wounds, and a broken cheekbone. She quickly got to work, sending her chakra into her patient's body to numb and calm it, molding more chakra into tools for the procedures, and molding even MORE chakra so she could see the patient's body, as if working through an ex-ray.

-

Three hours had passed, and the patient was sleeping feverishly, as he had obtained a fever. Sakura made camp in the clearing, building a fire near the sleeping man, preparing some tea for when he woke; it was made of special herbs to fight the fever. She stayed by the man's side loyally, keeping his forehead cool, and not leaving his side unless she was positive he would be safe.

Two days had passed, and the man's body had fully healed, but the man never woke. However, Sakura, patient as she is, still stayed by his side, making sure he was fed and washed.

Sakura did her hourly body check up, and once again, she saw something that irked her. His body was seemingly fine, but..there was something wrong. What? She didn't know. A few minutes later, she realized that she hadn't ever paid attention to her patient's face. 'Who is this person? Do I know them?' she asked herself, looking at her patient's face.

At the moment, his face was calm and almost peaceful looking. However, Sakura's eyes widened.

-

He'd been in that dark space for a long time, but just now, he'd been watching the pastel headed women take care of his body. She had been taking careful watch, making sure his bandages were changed regularly, and that he was fed and watered. Now, he suspected, she was waiting for him to wake up.

However, today, as she did her hourly check up, she had stopped doing what she was doing and looked at his face for once. This was when he got a good look at her.

She was..

Haruno Sakura, 'The Onyx Blossom of the Leaf', as the bingo books had labeled her. The BEST med-nin throughout all 5 great nations, Apprentice of the Godaime Hokage, Anbu Captian Squad #2, perfect chakra control, super strength, 'beauty', teammate of his otouto and the Kyuubi, and probably more.

He was interested on what her reaction would be, when she finally noticed she was helping the enemy.

'Foolish girl,' he thought.

However, the black started to disappear, and he no longer saw his body or Sakura.

-

'Ohhhhhhshitttt. This is…Uchiha Fucking Itachi! I thought Sasuke killed him! Ackkk. Forget kicking his ass to Amegakure…I'll just kick him into the fucking apocalypse!! Ohhhh….Itachi will probably try to kill me when he wakes up.' she thought, her face still not giving away her inner conflict.

'Ohhh this is realllll bad. I just helped public enemy #1!! Ohhhh…ohshitshitshit….'

'But. He was hurt…by taking the medic oath, I promised to help people in need, no matter who they are..'

'But…ohshitfuckdamnnnnn this is sooooo badddd!!!'

Unbeknownst to her, two onyx eyes were watching her, trailing her every movement. Every look to the left, every tightening of her lips, even the slightest furrow in her brow.

'I'll let her live, for now..I'm curious as to what she will do. Will she try to kill me? Or will she bring me to her precious Konoha?' he thought, willing himself to fall asleep.

-

Sakura looked back at Itachi, studying his body with her medical eye, and found that he was still asleep. With her katana at the ready, she stealthily walked over to him, and…

-

Itachi could see the shine of a weapon, even through his eyelids. 'This is it! She will try to kill me. I knew it..but I won't die because of this girl. Not today.'

-

…felt his forehead, finding that the fever was still raging.

"Hmm. Uchiha-sann. You're sickkkk." She muttered to herself cutely, fetching a cold cloth to quell the fever.

-

'The fuck? Why didn't she try to attack me? Is she stupid?? She has the chance to strike down an Akatsuki; one of the 'bad' people trying to fucking massacre her village and take her best friend! Jeezuz..this girl doesn't seem nearly as smart as people give her credit. She's just…a regular girl.' He thought with disgust, but as soon as the damp cloth hit his forehead, he felt calm and slightly 'loopy', as Kisame called it.

-

"All betterrrr! Now, Uchiha-sann. You'll just have to stay asleep for now." Sakura smiled to herself, as she knew that the 'sleeping' Itachi hadn't really been sleeping at all. She had actually put an undetected sleeping chemical on the fever cloth, to make him hazy and tired as if he were actually sick, which would soon twist his mind so bad, that he'd just fall asleep-temporarily. It made a great tool for undercover missions.

Sakura gently, despite knowing that this was Uchiha Itachi, picked up Itachi and carried him bridal style. She flew through the trees, to an unmarked territory. She carefully laid down the Uchiha, and with one hand, dispelled the S-class genjutsu. There, in the previously empty territory, stood a beautiful traditional Japanese clan mansion. She'd modeled this after the Hyuuga's estate, after coming over to hang out with Hinata, or train with Neji.

She walked in through the front entrance, and navigated to the back quarters of the estate. There, she placed Itachi in a room with a clean futon with red sheets, a black bookshelf filled with books of many topics, a black desk, a black glass coffee table, soft red carpet, and a plush crimson chair.

After making sure that he was all settled, she went into a room directly across the hall, that had a similar layout, only the color schemes were green and silver. After she made sure everything was in order in the room, she left to go recast the genjutsus and traps around the estate.

-

Itachi woke up in a tastefully put together room and silently praised the kunoichi with her color choice. 'At least it wasn't that horrific pink color…' he mused, sitting up on the futon. Curious, picked himself slowly from the soft futon, and brought himself to the front of the bookshelf. 'Hm….med books, genjutsu, taijutsu, mystery novels, shojou manga, picture albums, kenjutsu, 'How to Restrain Yourself, for the Dumb Smart People', Encyclopedias, scrolls that looked positively ancient, I SPY books, 'Where's Waldo?' books, and …a black composition book?

Interest piqued, Itachi pulled out the black composition book. On the front, it said 'Property of Haruno Sakura,' in an elegant black ink scrawl. He averted his eyes in a sketchy way, and checked for the kunoichi's chakra signature. Finding it in the room across the hall, he decided to try and read it at another time. For now, he'd let his presence be known.

-

Sakura was currently looking through a cabinet in her room, searching for some herbs that would help Itachi stay calm, prevent fever, and dull his pains. Finally finding the mix of the correct plants, she turned on her heel, ingredients in hand, and started to stealthily walk to the kitchen in this wing of the mansion.

Finally reaching the fully equipped kitchen, Sakura started to make some tea with the herbs, using strawberry lemon flavors to cover the unpleasant taste. After waiting for the tea to finish, she felt another chakra signature approaching her. She turned around, two concealed poisoned senbon at the ready, if she needed them.

"Haruno-san." The dark haired male replied with a silky tenor, scrutinizing her under his heavy lidded gaze. Sakura turned back to the tea, and poured him a cup.

"Uchiha-san, this tea has special herbs that will prevent fever and dull your pains. I hope you don't mind that I covered the unpleasant taste with strawberry lemon." She replied, handing the taller male the cup, while bowing in respect. 'If I'm not hostile, I might stay alive longer. Plus, no one can resist my strawberry lemon tea.' She thought, not at all nervous by his scrutiny. After a long while, he accepted the cup of tea, and nodded his thanks. He took a sip, not knowing that soon, her tea would be the only tea he'd ever drink.

He quickly finished the delicious tea, though his face didn't give away anything. Sakura neared him, and started to take away the tea cup-but Itachi stopped her by touching her wrist with his fingertips. He blinked, and she smiled smugly.

"Would you like some more, Uchiha-san?" she asked. Suddenly, in Itachi's hidden mind theater, Itachi pictured Sakura in a cute frilly black apron, with cat ears and a matching tail, with a cute smile, offering him some dango.

Blinking himself from his stupor, Itachi nodded. "Yes please."

**A/N: Lollol, so what do you think? XD I know I should be writing for my other stories….;_; Dun scold me. Imma sorreh! If you review, you get mountain dew and upside down pineapple cake!! X3**


	2. Long But Not So Forgotten

A/N: Hello! This is the second installment of Sakura, I Love You. Yes, this will be cracky. Yes, if you don't like Sakura, or Sakura together with lots of people like Itachi, then you should NOT read. Criticism, comments, all accepted! Thank you!

**I do not own Naruto. Especially since I'm probably fucking the series up—supahbadddd. Haha!**

Chapter 2

_1/1/08_

_Konichiwa! I am Haruno Sakura. My new year's resolve was to keep a journal to record the days of my life, as Tsunade-okaa-chan suggested. A shinobi never knows when they're going to die, so I've decided to record all of the events that happen until then._

_Let me start a bit about myself. Again, I am Haruno Sakura. I have pink milkshake hair—Yes, its natural; green eyes, and I'm pretty short. Unlike most shinobi, I didn't come from a shinobi's family. That means, no special jutsu, no kekke genkai, no clan name, no bragging rights. No, I'm just Haruno Sakura, the daughter of two civilian merchants. Before wanting to become a ninja, I was just a sheltered spoiled little girl; not knowing how serious the shinobi life was. But, when I was 5, I was enrolled in the prestigious Konoha Academy. I'd worked hard, memorizing __everything__; all of the jutsu Iruka-sensei taught us, all shinobi rules, and techniques for just about everything. It was too bad that I wasn't from a shinobi family though; because all of the other children looked down on me. Physically, I wasn't nearly as strong as the other children (even Ino-pig), so I resorted to just being the best at learning. However; even in that field I was beat by Uchiha Sasuke, my foolish childhood crush. _

_Remember when I told you that other children looked down on me? Yeah, it wasn't just because I wasn't from a high status family. The teasing went from me being weak, to having freakish pink hair and a not so average sized forehead. This was when my best friend Nata-chan (Hyuuga Hinata), shy as she is/was, came and gave me some healing ointment. From then on, we became best friends, sticking to each other like glue. As we got older, I started becoming the stronger one. I was the one who had to defend her against her vicious cousin, Neji. (Of course Neji isn't as vicious anymore. He's actually quite the sparring partner, and he's over-protective of Nata-chan and I.)_

_One night, when we were 9, I needed Nata-chan the most, but she wasn't there. No, it wasn't her fault. It was stupid Neji's. He'd told the clan something that they hadn't liked, and they locked Nata-chan in a sealed room, complicated genjutsu and seals everywhere. I wished so bad that I could be with her that night; because when I saw her after that happened, she was even shy-er and timid than she'd been before._

_Anyway, on my part of the night; I'd found out that Stone nuke-nin had ambushed my house and murdered my parents. It wasn't planned, but apparently my parents were at the wrong place at the wrong time. The Third Hokage had taken me into his arms, and let me cry. Afterwards, I walked away and vowed never to cry ever again; that I wasn't strong enough to protect my family from filth! But, that's where the night went from bad to worse. _

_The other children from the academy apparently found out about my parents, and they started to follow me. They chased me into the Forest of Death, and started to beat me up, even though I fought my hardest. _

_They teased me, saying terrible words; "Pink haired orphan!", "Your parents were so weak they couldn't take down some stone nuke-nin!", "Weak freak! Couldn't even protect your own family—pitiful!" When I thought I was about to faint, I did an advanced jutsu that the others didn't know, and I poof'd myself into the top of a tree, and cast a quick genjutsu. The genjutsu enabled them to see their loved ones being killed in front of them, one by one; until they were officially __alone__—like me. Uchiha Sasuke, who was just a bystander of the group broke out of the genjutsu first, and helped the others break out as well. After that, all of the crying children ran away, and I closed my eyes. _

_A few minutes later, I felt another's presence. A graceful, lithe, panther-like Anbu had tracked me. "Haruno Sakura-san, please come with me." He asked, offering me his hand. Being afraid, alone, and weak doesn't let you process things correctly—so I took the stranger's hand. I think he felt me nodding off, so he picked me up and let me sleep. It was against my shinobi instinct; to fall asleep in front of/in the arms of a complete stranger; Konoha Anbu or not. However, my resolve about becoming a top shinobi had died that night—and I stayed asleep like the normal child I was supposed to be, visions of the graceful, deadly, masked warrior running through my head._

_When I woke up, I was sleeping on the couch in the Hokage's office, the Anbu still by my side, silently watching over me—like a dangerous angel. All of my previous wounds were all taken care of, and I still remember how afraid I was; did the other children already tell on me? Did this Anbu see what I did, and come to arrest me? What was going to happen? _

_However, the ever-masked Anbu still sat and watched me, until the Hokage came in. The rest of the night, the kindly old man had given me my own apartment, free of charge; and until I was 12, Iruka-sensei would be my guardian. A while later, Iruka-sensei came from his summoning, and smiled at me. "Everything will be okay," he told me. I started to fall asleep again, but before I was lost to the dreamscape, I ran to the Anbu._

"_Arigatou, onii-san. Gomenasai for the trouble! Uhm..what is onii-san's name?" I asked, bowing. Damn my little body and need for sleep—I wasn't able to see his reaction or hear his answer. I fell asleep almost immediately, and visions of my dark onii-san filled my head, along with a new resolve: "I will be as deadly and graceful as onii-san!"_

_Yes..that night, I'd lost and gained a resolve; all because of 'onii-san'._

_HAHA! I was such a foolish child, ne? I fell in love with an Anbu I'd never known; training harder and harder every day until I'd nearly dropped dead. I hadn't ever encountered that Anbu since that night, that I know of; but I still trained harder and harder. No one except for Nata-chan, Neji-kun, Hokage-sama, and Hiashi-sama (Nata-chan's Tou-san) knew; for they were the ones helping me train._

_Well, I think that's enough for now._

_I haven't even gotten to age 12! And I'm 16 now._

_Ja ne,_

_Sakura._

The elegant scrawl ended there, and Itachi closed the black composition book. He tilted his head back, and closed his eyes. The events in her book seemed vaguely familiar..and a tad cliché. A small girl that gets picked on…a wicked cool Anbu that saves her. She falls in love and becomes strong…

Where had he heard this story before?

AH! He didn't..but. 'No freaking way…' he thought, eyes widening an invisible fraction.

An oncoming headache started to come as he tucked the black composition book back into its place on the shelf. He rubbed his temples, trying to fight the damned thing off; pleasant memories coming back.

-

FLASHBACK [[Lol, even though there's enough in the regular series. Sorry!]]

_Itachi had been walking through the Forest of Death, trying to stay away from home as long as he could—the stupid elders wanted to talk about over throwing Konoha; again. And how he would be their secret weapon._

_His radio started to give its light buzzing noise, signaling that the Hokage was going to say something._

"_Attention those of you who are listening. All Anbu on patrol are to be on the watch for a small pink haired green eyed female; about 4"10, 9 years old. Her name is Haruno Sakura; please bring her to the Hokage tower, unharmed. Thank you."_

_Itachi started to fly through the trees noiselessly; when he came upon a scene of children._

_It seemed that the larger group of children was fighting a—a small pink haired girl. When Itachi was about to step in, he saw a sight he hadn't seen for a long time (Thanks to his Sharingan). _

_The little pink haired girl seemed like she was done for; but the tables turned drastically. She cast a disappearing B class jutsu, and appeared high in a tree. After this, the kids below seemed to be puzzled—only to be hurled into a vicious S class genjutsu. He saw that it was sort of like his own; causing the opponent to see close ones die before them, until everyone was gone. His interest caught; Itachi decided to stay put and see how the small girl handled the situation._

_His otouto, Sasuke, broke out of the genjutsu first—taking 50 minutes. Once he was out, Sasuke helped the others and all of the children ran away, crying their own rivers. He looked up in the tree to see the little one nodding off, and decided to make his presence known. He unmasked his chakra; not to its full capacity, however. The little girl was immediately awake, eyes searching. Apparently she noticed Itachi was a Konoha Anbu, and relaxed a tiny bit._

_Deciding she wouldn't run away, he said "Haruno Sakura-san, please come with me." And Sakura took his offered hand. Since it was the time of night when most children were supposed to be asleep, Sakura started to nod off. He picked her up and let her sleep, quickly making it to the Hokage tower._

_When he arrived, the secretary up front told him to wait in the Hokage's office—all the while making goo-goo eyes at him, and eyeing the child with disgust. He promptly ignored the girl and made his way into the office, setting Sakura on the couch. _

_Remembering the fight she was in earlier, he searched her body with his eyes, finding 2 purple-ing bruises and deep scrapes. He dreaded talking to the secretary from before, so he put his mask back on and walked out. "I'll be needing a first aid kit." He replied, quickly making his way back into the office, not giving the girl a chance to reply._

_Minutes later, he received an aid kit, and set to work. He cleaned and disinfected all of the wounds, and bandaged them up. _

_About half an hour later, the little girl woke up and stared at him. Those innocent, curious, child-ish eyes stared at him..through him. As if they knew him; everything he was, everything he'd done. They stared at each other in silence, and soon the Hokage came in. He'd discussed living arrangements with Sakura, and Iruka had come to collect Sakura. However, she turned to him, and ran to him._

"_Arigatou onii-san. Gomenasai for the trouble! Uhm…what is onii-san's name?" the child asked, bowing. Itachi smiled undetected (mask), and—Sakura fell asleep, her body started to fall forward. Immediately catching her, he held her head close to him, and cradled her, 'Tachi..' he replied so only she could hear. (If she were conscious.) He gave the sleeping child __reluctantly__ to Iruka's arms, and he bid everyone goodnight, immediately vanishing in whirlwind of leaves._

FLASHBACK END

-

Yes, long years ago, _he_ found the small Sakura. _He_ was Sakura's unknown 'dark onii'. Haha…strange how her diary brought back pleasant memories. Inwardly, Itachi smiled, and wanted to whip out that composition book and keep reading. It was odd how, by being nice to her, he inspired her to get stronger; but he had to kill his fucking clan so his dumb brother would try to get stronger. Oh, the irony. Ha.

-

It has been a day since she'd saved him, and he was already healed miraculously. She'd heeded to his every need, despite him being public enemy number one—and never once had he treated her as an enemy. On the contrary, the elder Uchiha was very polite, and held out intelligent conversations.

'Ack…I have to go back to Konoha soon, or else my ass is grass. Tsunade-okaa-chan will make sure of that!' she thought, trying to plan out her next move. Would she leave Itachi alone, and act as if she'd never encountered him? Should she turn him in to Konoha? What to do, what to do?


	3. Nervousness, Diary Entry 2, Dreaming

**A/N: Dear readers, the next installment!^^**

**I DO NOT OWN NARUTO. :]**

**LOL, And: Just so that everybody knows; Inner Sakura is not in this. When there are multiple thought lines, Sakura is literally talking to herself—not an Inner. I know it sort of seems like it IS Inner, but..it's not supposed to be. Haha! **

Chapter 3

Still debating with herself on what to do with the Akatsuki, Sakura started to run her fingers over her lips repeatedly. You see, unlike other people with their nail biting, sweating, lip biting, or even hair twirling habits, Sakura just rubbed her lips repeatedly. As she went to the Ninja Academy, this habit started to disappear. Now, however, it only reappeared when she was very nervous.

…

And this situation certainly made her nervous.

Come on! Polite and refined or not, he was still an S-rank criminal. Sakura could just hand him over to Tsunade-okaa-chan and be done with him—or, she could pretend like she didn't heal one of the most dangerous men in the world back to perfect health. Really, her options were quite limited. Either way, there were probably consequences for healing him.

Sakura leaned against the kitchen counter, with her arms and legs crossed, eyebrows furrowed in a deep frown, and her lips in a thin line.

_'But it was the medic's oath! I can't get in trouble! I just followed through with my promise!'_

'_Stuuuupid! He's Uchiha Itachi! It would've been better if you left him dead and just brought him back to Konoha. That way, none of us would have this mess, and you wouldn't have to tell Sasuke that his dearest brother is 'home'. Alive.'_

'…_but he was bleeding…and disease was eating his body inside out! And plus, from healing him, I gained extra in-field (sort of) experience!'_

'_Again, UCHIHA. ITACHI. S-CLASS CRIMINAL. You did __**bad**__.'_

Sakura heaved a deep sigh and uncrossed her limbs, pushing herself from the counter. _'I still don't know what I'm going to do..'_

-

Itachi was in his room again, reading the kunoichi's diary again. As strange as it was, he was mildy interested in her diary—as mushy as it was. Oh well, whatever. It's not like Kisame was peeking through the window to see it—however, that'd be quite a sight. What if Kisame saw the tough, cold, unfeeling Itachi reading a little pink haired girl's diary. Hah! It's definite that he'd tell people. ((coughcough**everyone**coughcough))

_1/2/08_

_Hello again, it's Sakura! Last time I wrote, I told you about how badly I was treated when I was small—and how it was made up for, when I met Anbu-san. Because of him, I resolved to become strong. Strong so that I could protect myself, strong so I could protect my precious people, strong so I could defend my home._

_It still strikes me as strange; because of that single encounter with 'Onii-san', I trained rigorously for the next few years—I had always hoped to meet him again someday. However, I never met that panthe-rlike Anbu—at least, not that I know of. I mean, sure, all Anbu are trained to have amazing stealth skills—but I have never met anyone thus far who is as graceful or deadly as he._

_Anyway, age 12 came around the corner. Around that time, important hings had happened. For one, I had been put into my first team, Team 7. Little had I known, that the people in this team would have a large impact on my life—both negative and positive. _

_At first, I neglected my ninja skills and fawned over Sasuke, ignoring Naruto. At that time, I thought Sasuke was the sun; a god. He was far more 'superior' than anyone I had ever seen—or so I thought. Even when I fangirl'd over him, somewhere in the deep recesses of my mind knew that he was nowhere near as awesome as Onii-san. Yes, age 12 was when my head was filled of dreamy scenarios where Sasuke would sometime propose to me, asking me to—no, __**demanding**__ me to rebuild his clan; lovingly, of course. How foolish I was. I was ignorant, lost in our happy 'family'. I had thought that Kakashi actually cared; that Sasuke was warming up; that Naruto wasn't completely useless._

_And soon, the Chuunin Exams rolled around; ah, the Forest of Death. Sasuke was given the Curse Seal from Orochimaru, the bastard poisoned Sasuke's thoughts with 'easy' power. After he got the seal, Sasuke became sick and fell unconscious. I took the responsibility of watching Sasuke and Naruto as they were unconscious—however, I was weak again. My traps sucked, and an Oto team ambushed us. I was so weak, that I had to depend on help from Ino's team, made up of Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji. One of the Oto-nin grabbed my hair and held me hostage like that—and I was forced to cut my hair. At that time, I told myself it was a promise to become stronger and care less about looks and boys, like I have been._

_Of course, Sasuke would choose this time to randomly wake up. Boy, was he a sight. His body was covered in purple marks, and he looked absolutely __**pissed**__. He took one look at me, and asked me "Your hair. Who did this to you, Sakura?" I stared at him, but then one of the Oto kids said "It was me," thinking it'd just be a petty fight. However, Sasuke fought him effortlessly, and was starting to break the poor kid's arms. I'd screamed for him to stop—hell, everyone was screaming or him to stop. But he wouldn't listen—so I ran up to him, and hugged him from behind. Cheesy, I know. But it worked. The purple marks receded, and he was his plain white self again._

_Sometime after that, we ran into Gaara._

_Well, it was our first major run-in with Gaara. For some reason, he was very angry. He turned into Shakaku, and pinned me to a tree. Useless again. Naruto summoned the great toad, Gambata—and Sasuke fell unconscious. The idiot tapped into the curse seal's power; and he couldn't control it this time._

_Stuff that happened after this was a blur. But then, for the primaries, I was pitted against Ino-pig. We taunted each other, and fought shabbily, and finally—I threw an insult at her that she didn't like. It prompted her anger, and she too, cut off her long blond hair. In the end, it turned out to be a draw._

_Anyway, remember what I said about these people impacting my life? Yeah, well. Here's a taste of what happened:_

_-Naruto left to train with the 'Great Toad Sage'; Aka Jiraiya, the pervert._

_-Kakashi and Sasuke went away somewhere and trained their brains out, Sasuke coming back in his style-less black-green attire for the Chuunin Exam Finals. (Euyuch! That was gross!)_

_As for me, since I neglected my skills and let them get rusty, I was virtually useless in battle._

_After the Chuunin Exam, our team seemed a little bit lifeless; callous. Unreal. Sasuke receded back into himself, becoming colder than he'd already been in the very beginning, Kakashi was paying special attention to Sasuke, and Naruto was getting caught up with Jiraiya. I truly felt as though I were left out. Nobody wanted me—I was useless in fighting these days, and I wasn't good at anything else. I only had my book smarts, but that was about it._

_Around here was the time when Tsunade-okaa-chan just came to Konoha; by request (last request, if you will) of the Third Hokage. _

_Even after this sad portion; it became even sadder. Sasuke became consumed by the idea of power to destroy his brother, Itachi—so he left Konoha with the Oto-nin, and was branded a traitor._

_But that night he left.._

_It is a night forever marked in my mind._

_I was walking at night, and I spotted Sasuke leaving. I couldn't believe it was true—I started crying, begging him to stay or for him to take me with him. I proclaimed my love for him, only for this 'love' to be pushed away and stomped on. He started saying things like, "You don't know what its like to be alone", or, "I'm an avenger. Our paths are different". Yeah, he threw that kind of bullshit at me. Still, I begged him to stay, only to be callously knocked out and left on the stone bench—as my mind was blurring and my consciousness was leaving me, he just said, "Thank you." Can you believe that?! Ugh. He's ridiculous. _

_Anyway; after he left, I cried my eyes out a lot and was depressed. Naruto and the others kept going on 'rescue' missions to gain the Uchiha back, but it wasn't much of a rescue. Naruto and the rest always came home with near fatal injuries; they were more in need of rescue—not Sasuke. But all of their injuries were because of a promise Naruto had made to me—a promise of bringing Sasuke back._

_After they had come home the last time, and after seeing Naruto in bandages from head to toe, I decided I wouldn't be weak anymore. I started to train by myself again—but I figured it wasn't enough. I had asked Neji and Hinata to help me, like old times—but Neji coldly turned me away because I had been fawning over Uchiha (his 'arch enemy', so to speak). Then I asked Kakashi, only for him to tell me that I wasn't exactly ninja material. Tired of being turned away, I marched into Tsunade-okaa-chan's office in the Hokage tower, and demanded to be taught._

_She laughed at me, and asked me if I was really up to it—of course, I said "yes"._

_And so, more years of rigorous training had come—but this time, I was learning advanced medical jutsu and chakra infused attacks._

_I had blocked my heart a little bit, using my rage—rage at Naruto and Sasuke for leaving me—and channeling it to my limbs for powerful attacks. Sooner than many thought, the 'weak' little 'cherry blossom' grew up and became strong. Yes, I'd become so strong that sometimes the elders and Danzou had attempted to attack and imprison me, for some fake treason thingy. They thought I was getting too powerful, that I may try to come and over throw them. Hm, such cowardice. But it didn't matter—Tsunade-okaa-chan had protected me from them, for we had become close. She indeed became my mother, since my own had been gone for so long. _

_Eventually, I started to shoot through the ranks._

_And I conclude here, Diary. _

_For next time, I shall speak of my adventures of my 16th year._

_Love, Sakura._

Itachi leaned back against the headboard, letting his arm fall to rest on the pillow._ 'Otouto..and I already thought you to be foolish.' _He thought, narrowing his eyes. _'He could've just stayed in Konoha to gain power. Look at his teammates, for instance. They're definitely not weak. Sasuke obviously has something like, ADD or very short patience.' _ Itachi sat back up and reopened his eyes, pushing himself off of the bed. He carefully placed the diary back into its spot on the shelf, utterly bored, he pulled the I SPY Halloween! Book off of the shelf and decided to 'read' it. (Lol, how do you read those? XP)

Sakura was a few hallways away, Itachi observed, feeling for her chakra signature. Sure enough, she was heading towards his room.

Sakura stopped outside of Itachi's room, raising her hand to knock. However, the monotonous voice she'd gotten used to bade "Come in," so she slid the shoji screen open and entered, quietly closing it behind her. She leaned a little bit on the shoji screen, momentarily thinking whether she wanted to talk to him or run like hell, back to Konoha. Gaining a sliver of courage, Sakura pushed off of the door and stood in the middle of the room. As she looked over to him, she thought the scene to be quite comical. _Uchiha Itachi_ had an **I SPY** book in his lap, his index finger somewhere on the page. On the inside, Sakura pictured herself rolling on the floor, laughing merrily at the criminal's expense. Outwardly, however, her features were schooled—blank. She opened her mouth, as though to speak, but Itachi switched his gaze to her, ready to listen—and she promptly shut it. Her eyes flew to the floor, and her fingers made their way to her lips, rubbing them continuously.

'_Shit..what am I supposed to do?! I know that it was probably the worst possible thing to do—healing him, but..'_

'_Yes, it was medic's oath and stuff. Just decide on something already, before something bad happens.'_

'_..but if Tsunade-okaa-chan finds out tha' _Sakura stopped in mid thought, her finger ceased movement. She had an idea.

While Sakura was standing there, Itachi had been watching her every movement. She kept her face virtually blank, but sometimes a twitch of the lip or brow would catch his attention—had it been anybody else other than Itachi, they probably wouldn't have noticed. But the most apparent action of this girl, was the incessant lip rubbing. What was up with that? He decided to move the conversation along—something a tad strange for an Uchiha.

"Sakura-san, there was something you wanted to speak to me about?" he replied, his gaze unwavering. Her eyes widened momentarily, then her face was once again blank. She removed her hand from her mouth, and crossed her arms.

"Yes, Itachi-san. I came to ask how you are feeling." She replied, trying to keep her face unreadable. Itachi closed his eyes and smirked a bit and nodded.

"I am quite fine, arigato." He reopened his eyes to see a still, blank-faced Sakura. She nodded and then smiled a bit.

"Ah, Sakura-san? What is this?" he asked, mimicking her lip rubbing. He was, truly curious—though he tried not to appear so. Sakura smiled sheepishly and scratched her cheek in a cute way, making her seem like a little girl again. She played with her fingers, a little bit like how the Hyuuga heiress had when she was younger.

"Uhm..well, uh..its just a habit. I've done it since I was small—but when I started taking classes at the academy, it started to stop. It doesn't happen so much anymore..only when I'm nervous." She answered him, still looking down. Amused, Itachi smirked. He took the I SPY book off his lap and set it to the side, giving his full attention to the kunoichi.

"Is that so? Whatever is making it happen right now, Sakura-san? Are you nervous about something?" He jabbed the girl with a bit of a mocking tone, a sparkle of amusement flitted across his eyes. Sakura flushed a bit, and crossed her arms, looking up defiantly.

"Of course not, Itachi-san. Why would I be nervous? Hm. It _could _be nervousness from having saved 'Public Enemy No. 1', from being **dead**." She replied, smirking at the man. He gave no apparent reaction, but unbeknownst to her, Itachi found her to be quite amusing. _'Perhaps this shall turn out interesting. Will she keep me a secret? Or will she turn me in to Konoha? To my brother?'_ he thought. Sakura huffed.

"Do you require anything, Itachi-san?" she asked him, unfolding her arms. The man shook his head and she took this as her dismissal. Sakura quickly made her way out of the room, fleeing to the kitchen to think again about her current issue.

Feeling her chakra signature fade to the kitchen, Itachi closed his eyes and lay down on the bed. _'Mm..these sheets smell pretty.'_ He thought, but immediately shoved the offending comment to the back of his mind. Soon enough, he fell into a light slumber.

-

Sakura was outside of the pretty estate, in a clearing about two miles away. She threw an angry punch at a tree, the tree immediately bursting into small slivers of wood. She crossed her arms in front of her face, pieces of wood finding their way into her flesh. Those didn't matter right now, no. Sakura was troubled about her Itachi situation. She still didn't know what she was supposed to do. Her idea from earlier; she'd taken it apart and tried to think it out, piece it together. But by the time she was nearly done, she figured out that it'd be useless, because of all the flaws. _'Damnit..why couldn't I be a super smart genius person, like Shikamaru?!'_ she ranted, stomping her foot on the ground. Soon enough, the earth beneath her feet rippled, creating big ass craters. Rocks seemingly rained from the sky, and Sakura punched each and every one of them, imagining they were Sasuke's head. _'You idiot—Itachi's not dead. You left to train with the enemy, and you still __**failed**__.'_ She frowned. She couldn't say she downright _hated_ the eldest Uchiha—she quite enjoyed his company. It was a bit of a change from the over zealous Naruto, the boy crazy Ino, the monosyllabic sentences from Kakashi-sensei; even the ridiculously perverted comments from all the boys. But, his existence _was_ a little bit of a hindrance. He _was_ the reason why Sasuke-teme left Konoha for the Snake Sannin. He _was_ the one in the S-Class terrorist ninja group, Akatsuki, who was supposed to be specifically going for the Kyuubi—Naruto.

Still extremely frustrated, Sakura formed hand seals at a vicious pace, the dragon made of earth sprouted up and came to attack her. She smirked, tugging the ends of her gloves, making sure they were on tight. She ran toward the big 'creature' of rock, her arm pulled back, chakra channeled to her fist. The rock dragon lowered itself to her, looking as though it meant to eat her. But Sakura brought her fist forward, and the skies rained rock, yet again. She stood in the middle of the once peaceful clearing, her breath ragged, and fists clenched. She had a new idea.

Sakura went back into the mansion, flopping herself down on the bed. She winced as her arm rubbed against the soft sheets, the slivers still imbedded in her arms. _'I'd better take these out before they get infected.'_ She thought. Sakura concentrated on her arms, channeling the chakra to those parts of her arms, with the slivers. She bit down on her lip, preparing herself for the pain that she knew was about to come. Taking a deep breath, she let her concentrated chakra burst; and all of the slivers flew out of her arms, littering the floor. Sakura's lip started to bleed a bit, and blood was running down her arms. She gave a hiss of pain, reaching for the roll of bandages on the bedside table, wrapping her forearms tightly in the stuff, quick to catch the blood. She hadn't wanted to do laundry.

-

Itachi was—dare he say it, a bit 'at peace'. He was sleeping for the first time in a while—it wasn't fitful, it wasn't guilty. It was just sleep. It was nice.

Currently, he was having a dream of the pink kunoichi.

_"Hehe! Itachi-kun~!" a pink haired woman called. She was dressed in a pretty onyx kimono with the Uchiha fan on the back, her hair tied in a ponytail with a black ribbon. She smiled at him, and he felt fuzzy on the inside. His dream self smirked at her, and pecked her on the cheek. Sakura blushed a cute peach, and then pouted those pretty lips of hers._

"_Itachi-kun! Not in front of Natsume-chan!" she mock glared at him, and then broke into a fit of giggles. She picked up a little boy with raven locks and her stunning emerald eyes, and balanced him on her hip. She tickled the little boy, and played with him, genuinely having fun. Itachi went over to the two, and snaked his arms around her waist, and kissed her neck._

"_Why not, Sakura?" he whispered. His cute little wife blushed again, trying to ignore him—concentrating on the pretty boy on her hip. Natsume cooed at them, waving excitedly, smiling a bright smile._

"_Okaa-san! Otou-san! I love you!" he bellowed, clinging to Sakura. Itachi smiled—yes, __**smiled**__—down at the cute little boy, his __**son**__. He ruffled the boy's hair. Sakura kissed the little boy's forehead, swaying back and forth to lull the child to sleep…_

A strange dream indeed—albeit not unpleasant..

**A/N: Heh..uh. I don't know, I liked the dream. –coughs and looks away- And I know that Itachi did too. XD**

**Please review! ^-^ Thank you for reading!~ **

**Ja ne,**

**Rainy-chan.**


	4. Paralysis, Homecoming, Dreams, Sasuke

**A/N: ...I am so..sorry..for not updating anything. A gift from me to you, a 5,317 word chapter, excluding this small author's note. Please forgive me. The review from "Just A Little Pissed" kicked my ass in gear-I read it, and I felt really. Really. Really. Bad. Please enjoy this installment. I'll be going through it and editing it, since I'm submitting it at 3 AM right now. **

**Chapter Four **

Sakura hid her chakra levels slightly as she poked her head into Itachi's room, sliding her eyes across the area cautiously. Seeing everything fine and in place, she looked over to the lump in the middle of the bed which she presumed was Itachi. The corners of her mouth were tilting upwards slightly, as she saw his hair let down and splayed across the pillow, somewhat reminding her of Sleeping Beauty. The petal-pink girl shook her head slightly to rid the thought of that humorous idea and prepared herself for the task at hand—putting her "plan" into action. The tips of her fingers carefully pushed back the shoji screen door, her tongue poked into the side of her cheek while she was concentrating to make the movement noiseless—or, as noiseless as sliding a shoji screen door could ever be.

Her lips seemed to take residence between her teeth as she gnawed away at them, masking her chakra even more as she neared his bed. Slipping a handkerchief from her pocket, she held it in the air and moved it around the room slowly, the aroma of cinnamon and apples filling the area quickly. Once she was sure the room was covered, she started to dangle the scented cloth directly above the Uchiha, taking great care to move slowly enough for his covered eyes not to notice the slightest movement. Grabbing a bit more courage from the depths of her being, her face broke into a comical kind of frown and her hand lowered itself, allowing the cloth to dangle precariously close to his face. Instead of running the cloth around in the air, she opted to hold it incredibly still, at least a half a foot from his face..

And then his head moved—it was ever so slightly, but it was a move nonetheless. She felt her face burning as she waited for his eyes to pop open and for him to spring into action and try to kill her, but his eyes remained closed and his breathing was still even. Her eyes closed as the slightest sigh of relief escaped her lips, and she carefully put the handkerchief back in her pocket. She turned on her heel and placed a note on the nightstand next to the bed before gingerly tiptoeing out of the room and closing the screen door with all of the care in the world.

When she made her way to the kitchen, she heaved a sigh as she looked down the hallway she had just come from and ran a nervous hand through her hair. _"Let's just hope this isn't a mistake I'm making,"_ she thought, as she shouldered her pack and headed towards the door. Before she completely stepped out of the area, she touched the bark of a tree and solidified the security by adding excess chakra to allow the traps and genjutsu to sustain themselves for at least three more weeks. When she finished, she pulled her ANBU mask over her face and shrouded herself in a black cloak—heading for home.

* * *

When she had been in his room, Itachi could tell. When her chakra levels seemed to disappear, he felt oddly unsettled despite being asleep. Just as he thought he was going to be awakened from his dream, to figure out what happened to her, he could hear the slightest creak of the shoji screen door. _"Oh, there she is."_ His mind sighed an oddly out of character sigh of relief—but then his shinobi instincts kicked in. _"Hm..does this mean she's going to finally dispose of me?"_ He wondered, somewhat displeased by this idea of her wanting to be rid of him. But he remained still and resumed the façade of sleep. _"We seem to always play this game, don't we?"_ he had wanted to say to her, but refrained from doing so—he could hear her careful footfalls walking around the room. It wasn't as though she was being a hippo ballerina or something—she was actually quite quiet. Even the most trained shinobi could have overlooked her movements, but we're talking about Uchiha Itachi.

After he noticed her presence in the room, he could smell the aroma of cinnamon spice and apples—he liked it. She remained quiet and the scent grew stronger, making his mind feel a bit hazy. He could tell she had probably gotten closer due to the intensity of it, but he didn't really mind. No, he never minded it when she was near—wait, what?

Soon enough, he could tell that she was directly beside him. He could see no faint glint of metal, nor hear the small scrape of a blade from its sheath or holster—just the smell of apples. He could feel his mouth watering, the proximity of the pink haired shinobi and the scent combined made him feel strange—albeit, not a bad sort of strange. His chest tightened slightly, but he was used to it and had just assumed it had to do with his body healing up. (These episodes had only started to occur when Itachi had been recovering.) He could feel her coming closer, her body heat surrounding him. He moved his head slightly. Itachi had to use all of his strength to keep the flush from showing on his cheeks and to remain in an apparent sleeping state—and boy, it was a lot harder than a majority of the C-ranked missions he'd been on! He willed himself to be still and tried to stay relaxed—and soon enough, he couldn't take it anymore and tried to open his eyes.

However, he was unable to. In a slight panic, Itachi tried to wiggle his toes, to no affect. The same with his fingers, ears, and nose. He was paralyzed! He could make no noises, nor move his lips to form a cry of indignation. And with this late realization, he heard the faintest slide of the shoji screen doors—Sakura left the room. He opted to remain calm and try to break his way from this paralysis, but he just stopped and started to freak out once his superb chakra control failed to help him out of this situation. _"What is this? She'd better not have done this so that she could go summon the ANBU.." _His mind raced. _"And even worse, my hair is down! I look like fuckin' Sleeping Beauty or something."_ He sulked inwardly. Had he not been paralyzed, none of his inner turmoil would've shown on his face—but since he _was_ paralyzed, his inner turmoil _still_ wasn't shown on his face.

Her heard the soft closing of a door and his heart sunk. _"..She left. She left and will probably send the ANBU after me. Not only that, but I'm laying here, looking like fuckin' Sleeping Beauty. That's it. If I ever see her again, she's fucking dead."_ He fumed, screaming in frustration—in his mind, of course.

* * *

Several hours passed, and a faint flicker of black glided in and out of the trees. The slightest "tak" noise would be made every few seconds as her feet made contact with the tree limbs, but there was a lot more on her mind besides being stealthy—even though that should be her top priority, since she was a shinobi. Her mind wandered around—from Tsunade, to Naruto, to her punishment, to the anger that Itachi no doubt felt towards her right now. _"I'm really sorry, Itachi-san!"_ She cried in her mind, wishing hopelessly that he somehow could have heard it. Her abused lips were gnawed on furthermore, since rubbing her lips wouldn't be very ideal while on the run.

* * *

Back in Konoha, a lazy pine-apple-head lay sprawled across the front desk near the entrance of the village. Yes, Shikimaru was tasked for the boring look-out duty. Sure, it was important—but really. He'd rather just sit on top of Hokage Mountain and watch the clouds glide by..

His eyes slid open lazily as he scanned the bustling of the village. Everybody was still hyped up about the last Uchiha's return, about the death of the more infamous of the two. Ino wouldn't shut up about it—and despite being his girlfriend, she kept making excuses to go and see to Sasuke. To "make sure he's recovering right, because Forehead probably fucked up somewhere along the way, and he'll just be waiting for somebody to come and help him". _"Yeah, 'help him', my ass. She probably still hasn't gotten over her childish infatuation with him.."_ He thought somewhat darkly, throwing it to the back of his mind. He highly doubted that Sakura would "fuck up" on a patient as "important" as Sasuke. He knew she didn't really care for him so much, but being the apprentice of the Godaime Hokage made her oath to fix people all the stronger—that, coupled with the fact that she was generally a kind person at heart, naturally. She'd beat herself up if anything ever went wrong when she could've prevented it, he was sure.

He tilted his head back towards the sky, his head resting on his arms. _"Eh..women are fickle creatures. If I were a cloud, I wouldn't have to deal with women, I bet.."_ he sulked further.

Then suddenly, he heard a lot of cries coming from the main square.

"HEY, WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING!"

"AHH! THAT BOY, WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON HIM!"

"SOMEBODY GRAB HIM, HE DIDN'T PAY FOR ALL OF THAT RAMEN HE ATE!"

…

Oh great. Naruto was causing a ruckus again. And just when he thought that the day couldn't be even more—active.

The blond, orange-clad ball of energy swan dived behind the desk that he was sprawled on, barely clipping Shikimaru in the nose. "Hey, watch it, you idiot!" He hissed, rubbing his nose gingerly. The mischievous blond smiled sheepishly, giving his best Cheshire cat grin, a hand scratching his head. "Uh, sorry about that Shikimaru! But you see, I uh, oh..could you just, not tell anybody I'm here?" He said quickly, ducking under the desk. A hand made its way to Shikimaru's face and started to pinch the bridge of his nose, fighting the oncoming headache. "If you do not have enough money for so much ramen, then don't order so much!" He scolded. "But Shikimaru! When I go, I just…I end up being hungrier than I thought, and then I don't have enough money to pay for all of it, and.." "Just shut up." The pineapple head hissed, the headache coming full blast, despite his attempt to ward it off.

And then, Naruto came up from the desk—the both of them turned their heads to the gate. Shikimaru risked a sideways glance at Naruto, who was biting his lip nervously. "..Did you feel it too..?" The blond boy asked, clutching the chest of his shirt tightly.

* * *

She had been outside of the gates for a while now and heard the whole exchange between Naruto and Shikimaru, shaking her head fondly. _"Good..so they haven't changed."_ She thought, a smile tugging at her lips. When it was quiet once again, she completely unmasked her chakra and let them feel it. Her smile only broadened, as her ears caught her brother's question. _"Well, I guess it's time, then."_ She thought, putting her best foot forward.

She peeled herself from the shadows and slipped her ANBU mask to the side before she pulled her cloak off and stowed it away in her pack. Her feet felt heavy, but she walked onward towards the gate, coming closer and closer.

* * *

Yes, he definitely felt it. It couldn't be, could it?

…

Yes, it could. Right before them, they saw the familiar petal pink hair be revealed when she removed her mask and cloak. Naruto bounded towards the poor girl, nearly knocking her off her feet in his bone-crushing hug. "SAKURA-CHAN! SAKURA-CHAN! YOU'RE ALIVE!" He cried, not relinquishing his hold. She wrapped her arms around him in return and squeezed—unfortunately, her strength knew no bounds, and she felt Naruto's back crack. Her arms quickly untangled themselves from his body as she checked him for any broken bones, before she smiled sheepishly at him. "Sorry about that, Naruto." She said, feeling the warmth of his smile. "We thought—I thought..that you were gone! But, but you're here! Oh, Sakura-chan! I can't wait to tell Sasuke!" He bounced around like an excited puppy, his eyes shining brightly. Sakura rolled her eyes slightly at the mention of the younger Uchiha. "Well, Naruto. I was thinking more along the lines of Tsunade-sama," her voice was steely and full of protocol. She glanced at the other boy with him and smiled brightly, wrapping him up in a hug as well. "Shikimaru!" She greeted, feeling his arms wrap around her in return. "It's good to have you back, Sakura." His lips twisted upward in a lazy grin. She beamed at him, before they both released each other and let her go meet with Tsunade.

Before going in through the city, Sakura put her ANBU mask back into place and shrouded herself once again with her black cloak, taking care to tuck every pink strand back into her hood. She couldn't have all of Konoha know she was back, now could she? She'd have to save that for some other time.

Off she sped on the rooftops of Konoha, until she was outside the Hokage tower. With practiced stealth, she climbed up the side of the tower and was stationed right outside of the Hokage's window, listening for anything and feeling for any chakra signatures. When she finished her analysis, she figured that Tsunade was in her office, and she sat in the sill of the window, perched like a bird. Tsunade hadn't seemed to notice, her head was tilted slightly, resting on her hand. Everything was quiet.

…

"_Of course."_ Sakura thought, rolling her eyes slightly. She climbed in through the window carefully and stepped over to her master's desk. Her mask was removed, along with her cloak—both were placed on a nearby chair. Then, Sakura made her way back to Tsunade's desk, peeking at her face. It looked tired—and for once in a very great while, she almost looked her age. Sakura resisted the urge to roll her eyes yet again—there, clutched in Tsunade's fingers, was a sake bottle. _"At least she's still the same,"_ Sakura thought, before carefully easing the bottle out of her mentor's fingers. "Tsunade-sama," She called softly, putting her hand to the older woman's forehead. She let her warm, healing chakra invade her flesh and chip away at that hangover that would no-doubt cloud her mind.

Honey colored eyes slowly opened, then blinked a few times. "..Sakura..?" She gasped, in a hushed, unsure voice. Sakura offered her a kindly smile and nodded. "Yes, Tsunade-sama, I'm home." A smile spread across the blond's lips, as she quickly stood up and enveloped her daughter in a desperate hug. "I thought something had happened to you.." She revealed, sobbing slightly. "Shh..I'm fine," Sakura cooed, patting her mentor's head. They two women pulled away from each other and shared a smile, then broke into a soft laughter. Tsunade seated herself once again, then motioned for Sakura to sit down in the chair in front of the desk. "Now tell me what happened," She urged, resting her head on her hands.

Sakura took a deep breath.

"Well..I'm very sorry for disappearing out of the blue, like that Tsunade-sama. But, with Sasuke coming back—I don't know. I just felt really angry, so I went and uh.." Sakura started to explain, then smiled sheepishly. Tsunade rolled her eyes, nodding. "Yes, we found the obliterated trees you left behind." She replied dryly. "At first, I thought that was what had happened—then Naruto had been worrying that you had a big epic battle and were dragged off by the Akatsuki." Sakura was quiet for a moment, before she burst into laughter. "Are you serious..?" She couldn't contain her mirth, even as she covered her mouth with her wrist. "That idiot," She muttered. Tsunade merely nodded sagely, motioning for her to go on.

"Ah, yes…well. After I destroyed..those trees, I still felt so angry. I just had to get away." She finished. The blond raised a slender eyebrow at her apprentice. "Are you serious…?" She played Sakura's own words against her, resulting in more laughter from the two. Sakura nodded, blushing slightly. "Well, just wait when Naruto hears of this—he'll be absolutely livid." Tsunade cracked, taking a deep breath from their laughter. "Yeah..how is Uchiha?" Sakura asked shyly, despite the seriousness in her tone. Honey eyes scrutinized her for a moment, "You did a very good job—and by Kami-sama, he was fucking lucky that you had it in your heart and mind to fucking help him." She replied curtly—her dislike for the sulking teenager rather evident. A smirk made its way to Sakura's lips. "I see. Well then, I think you should get back to work, _Hokage-sama_." Sakura teased, shaking the sake bottle in front of her mother's face. In reply the other woman cried in exasperation as she glanced over at the _five_ ever-growing piles of paperwork sitting in the left corner of the room. "But I don't want to." She pouted, reaching for the bottle—only for Sakura to dodge the anticipated movement. "Ah-ah, now. It's your job," She scolded lightly, returning to the ambiguity of her mask and cloak. Tsunade gave a solemn nod, "I am so glad you've returned, Sakura." She replied seriously, a small smile upon her lips. The ANBU mask nodded, as it disappeared into the orange of the setting sun.

* * *

Finally, the paralysis wore off! Itachi sat up and stared at the wall. "..There are no ANBU here yet." He replied to himself, glancing around the room. On the nightstand, he saw a folded paper, with his name scrawled in her elegant hand. He reluctantly picked it up, opting to glare at it before actually opening it up to read it:

**Dear Itachi-san,**

**I am sorry for leaving you there—I am sure that you've noticed, but we seem to play this game a lot. What game, you ask? Well—the one where you appear to be sleeping and I somehow paralyze you or put you to sleep. Again, I am really, really sorry. It does get uncomfortable after a while, when you cannot move. But, hey, it forces you to think, doesn't it? Anyway.**

**You do not have to worry about me sending hunter-nin or ANBU after you—even though you might think I'll regret saying this later, here it is: "I think you aren't so much of a bad person as everybody makes you out to be. If you really were so terrible, you would've already killed me. I think you deserve a chance to be yourself, even if it is for just a little while. I'm positive that your life thus far has been really rough, since everybody is out to kill you and you were surrounded by the most feared criminals in all of the nations—but, it's still your life. You should enjoy it as much as you can. (Everybody thinks you're dead, anyway..)**

**And as your doctor, that is what I prescribe. Okay?**

**Now, I'm sure that remark will probably send you after me, with killing intent.**

**More importantly; nobody knows about our encounter. I am going to tell Tsunade-sama that I was just really angry and had to get away. She does not know where the estate is—nobody does. I infused the genjutsu traps with enough of my chakra to hold it up continuously for a span of three weeks. In those three weeks, you may decide if you want to stay there or not. Once the three weeks are up and if you decide to stay, you will have to infuse more chakra in the traps.**

**And yes, I am offering you that estate. Since everybody thinks you are dead, it probably wouldn't be wise to be sprouting up anyplace just yet. The Akatsuki might hunt for your body, in an attempt to steal or eyes or something—I read that that Zetsu guy usually does that stuff. As creepy as it seems, I took one of the cadavers from the hospital and cast a genjutsu over it. It looks like you, but I had to gouge the eyes out from it. I replicated all of your wounds that you had when I found you, and left it in the same place..It should satiate them for now, I guess.**

**I have left a three week's supply of your medication; it's in the kitchen cabinet. You may do whatever you wish—I still hold my word. "My place is your place," **

**In three weeks, I will return with more medicine. If you are not there—well, I'll probably just go back to Konoha. So no worries. If you do decide to say, feel free to make a list of things you'd like me to procure for you.**

**Best wishes,**

**Sakura.**

At the end of her note, Itachi felt his lips pulling themselves into a smile. Yes—an actual smile. "Foolish girl," he replied, fondness evident in his voice. _"She's too kind for her own good. I could easily turn all of this against her and have her executed by the corrupt elders of Konoha in a snap.."_ He thought. _"But I won't."_ A yawn escaped from his lips and he stretched, the long hours of sitting still finally taking their toll on him. He was in too much of a panic to actually fall asleep—but now…now was a good time to sleep. His lay back into the sheets, the pretty scent making its way into his mind again—he unconsciously wished for more dreams, nice dreams like he had the night before. Not ones full of screaming and death..

_**He was walking through the mansion, it was loud and full of life. As he made his way into their room, he found Sakura on the bed, tickling a now five years old Natsume, who was crying in delight. "Okaa-san! Okaa-sannn! Mercy, mercy!" He cried, laughter escaping his lips. Itachi admired the scene before him—the two he loved the most in this life and the next, with matching peach tints to their cheeks. Their eyes shone brightly, easily outshining the electric lights in the room. Sakura's long hair curtained their son as she towered over him, pinning him down with one hand while the other hand worked its fingers madly at the child's sides. "Natsume-chan, are you sure you want to do that? What if your father knew you give in so easily to torture tactics?" She teased, pressing a kiss to his forehead and relinquishing her hold on him. The child beamed up at her, tangling his arms around her neck. "I love you and papa so much, mama!" He cooed.**_

_**Choosing this moment to enter, he made his way to the bed and surprised the two by quickly wrapping his arms around the both of them, yelling "GOTCHA!" Both Sakura and Natsume screamed, before breaking into a fit of giggles as he pinned both of them down, resuming the tickle torture. "Otou-san! Please, no more! I'm going to barf!" The child cried mercy. "Itachi-kun! Noooo!" Sakura cried, fidgeting between gasps of laughter. He stopped immediately, smirking down at the two. "Had enough?" He replied bluntly, before pecking his wife on the lips and his son on the cheek.**_

"_**Euwwww!" The small child cried, seeing the slight peck. "Papa, I know you love mama, but you shouldn't do that when I'm here!" He insisted, only for the two adults to share a conspiring look.**_

_It was so beautiful, he thought. This child, this woman. Both of them are mine, and they are beautiful._

As he dreamed, the smile on Itachi's lips never dampened nor disappeared.

* * *

Just as many of them had said..it was good to be back. She enjoyed taking a bath in her own bathroom and resting on her own bed, reading her own books—without having to worry about a certain Uchiha springing out of his room and randomly killing her. She snuggled down into her pillow as she lay on her stomach, a medical dictionary open before her eyes. She breathed deeply, smelling the peppermint scented oil she used in her bath. "So nice…" She muttered to no one in particular..

And then the phone started to ring.

Sakura growled, her eyebrow twitching slightly. "Who could be calling me now?" She muttered darkly, twisting out of her blanket cocoon and walking over to her phone. She picked it up, taking a deep breath before answering.

"Moshi-mosh?" She replied, her voice not giving away to her irritation. "SAKURA-CHANNNNN! YOU HAVE TO COME TO ICHIRAKU!" A loud voice cried, causing Sakura to hold the receiver a few inches away from her head. "Why?" She asked smoothly, twisting the cord idly. "Becaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaause, just come here, Sakura-chan!" He begged. Sakura's lips formed a deep frown and she heaved a deep sigh. "Fine. I'll be there in a few," She muttered, hanging up before the idiot had a chance to reply. The frown etched itself into her face and seemed to remain in place as she got dressed. Her attire consisted of a black, long-sleeved, fishnet shirt, a black tank top over the fishnets, black shorts, and her thigh-high shinobi boots. "It had better be good," She sighed, applying chapstick to her abused lips.

She gazed back helplessly at her home—her comfortable bed, the comfortable sheets, her book. Then, she took a deep breath and turned away from it, stepping out of her door and locking it behind her.

When she found herself in front of the nostalgic ramen vendor, she tilted her head slightly and ducked under the rain cover. "I'm here, Naruto. What did you wa—" "SAKURA-CHANNNNNNNNNNNNNN! THANK GOD YOU'RE HERE!" The blond cried, pulling her over to his stool. There, she was met with a high pile of 15. EMPTY. RAMEN BOWLS.

…

"Na-ru-to!" Sakura seethed, pronouncing every syllable of his name as if it were poison on her tongue. "STOP ORDERING SO MUCH FOOD IF YOU DO NOT HAVE THE MONEY TO PAY FOR IT!" She screamed, punching up so hard he flew out of the stand, some 70 feet away. Her lips pursed as she fished in her pockets for her wallet, pulling out money to pay the kind man. She offered him a smile, "I'm really sorry..he just never seems to learn.." She replied, scratching her cheek sheepishly as Naruto came crawling back. He pulled on her arm as she finished paying and started running in a foreign direction, unceremoniously pulling her along. "Naruto! Hold on, where are we going! Stop it! JUST WAIT A MINUTE!" She bellowed, digging her heels into the ground—resulting in slight craters. She sweatdropped slightly. "..Tsunade-sama's gonna kill me for that." She muttered to herself, before looking back at her idiot friend.

He flailed his arms at her, "SAKURA, WHY DID YOU STOP? LOOK, THERE ARE HOLES IN THE GROUND, WHAT HAPPENED! ANYWAY, WE HAVE TO GET GOING SAKURA." He shouted, not missing a beat. He snatched her arm again and pulled them away once again, an utterly pissed off Sakura ready to punt him to Hokage Mountain. Her head reeled as he pulled her to god knows where—she'd only just come home, did she already have to deal with his antics?

Naruto finally stopped, pulling Sakura from her reverie. She glanced around the area and noticed that they were in the abandoned Uchiha Clan district. She shivered slightly—_"So many people died here.."_ She thought to herself. Even though the massacre happened so long ago, she thought she could hear the cries of slain Uchiha, the blood spattered on the wood. But, it was only a figment of her imagination—the district had been all cleaned up and renovated, not uttering a word about the horrors of its past. "..What are we doing here, Naruto?" She asked him, keeping her voice quiet in respect. "WE ARE GOING TO SEE THAT BASTARD, OF COURSE!" He replied, pulling her off once again.

When they finally stopped, they were in front of the biggest house—more of a mansion. It mirrored the structure of the Hyuuga (and her own) mansion—big, traditional Japanese. Naruto wasted no time in running up to the front door and banging on it mercilessly. "HEY, HEY TEME! WAKE UP! WAKE UP! I'M HERE! COME ON, STOP TAKING SO LONG. GET OFF YOUR ASS AND OPEN THIS DOOR!" He kept pounding, making Sakura's eyebrow twitch madly. _"If he doesn't stop, he's going to break the door. Sasuke will probably be pissed and break the door further by bashing Naruto over the head with the remnants..and then I'll have to fix both of these idiots up."_ She thought scornfully, resisting the urge to scream.

The door opened quickly and Naruto's fist made its way into Sasuke's waiting hand. Naruto's eyes widened, "TEME! HEY! YOU OPENED THE DOOR!" He exclaimed, bouncing excitedly. Sasuke's eyes narrowed, and he pulled Naruto's fist backwards, effectively flipping him up, back, and beyond. Sakura's hand made its way to her forehead, where she her oncoming headache with her warm chakra. "That idiot.." She muttered, shaking her head slightly. Feeling the warm chakra that had coursed through his body before, and hearing her muttering, Sasuke's head snapped up to look at his savior. "..S-sakura.." He muttered.

Sakura blinked, looking up to see Sasuke staring back at her. A slender pink eyebrow raised itself, as she stepped closer to him. "What, am I bleeding or something?" She asked, somewhat irritated. The Uchiha's eyes were wide as he shook his head frantically from side to side. "No! Of course not, I mean…uh…" His burst of words had gotten quieter until he was finally silent. Her eyebrow hiked itself up higher on her forehead. "Well, I think that was probably the most I've ever heard you say at once, Uchiha." She replied stonily. She walked past him into his house, kneeling beside the pitiful looking Naruto who was trying to nurse his hurting hand. "Ow…owww! Bastard, you didn't have to throw me like that!" He whined. Sakura rolled her eyes, and took Naruto's wounded hand in her own, examining it. "Fractured wrist. Nice job, Uchiha." She muttered darkly, casting a scornful sideways glance to Sasuke. He could feel the poison in her glare and winced inwardly, not letting his pain show on his face. "..Sorry." He replied dumbly, not knowing what to do. Sakura shook her head at the hopelessness of these idiots and quickly healed the blond idiot up, pressing a light kiss to his wrist. "There. All better." She smiled softly at him, earning herself a bone-crushing hug in reply. "THANK YOU SAKURA-CHAN! YOU'RE SO MUCH BETTER THAN BAA-CHAN! SHE JUST MAKES ME FIND YOU TO HEAL ME INSTEAD OF HEALING ME HERSELF!" He spouted out, smiling his foxy grin.

All while this was happening, Sasuke felt a pang in his chest—_"I'm not jealous of that idiot."_ He scoffed to himself, averting his eyes from the scene before him. "It was nice to see you again, Sakura." He replied, staring intently at the kunoichi. She turned her head slowly to him before nodding solemnly. "Sure." She replied, the steely edge never leaving her voice.


End file.
